Pizza & Beer

Colleen made a post about some changes here, and she's done a great job. We're hoping to better organize the look and feel of this experiment we call blogging. We also have some ideas for future blog posts: intro to the different styles of beer, how to taste a large repertoire of beers, and some good beers to get started. Obviously, if there is something you want to read about, let us know either by email or by comments. We'd like to keep the majority of our posts on beers tasted, but it's nice to mix it up too. We'd like to avoid making this place overly technical in terms of tasting, if we get that way, please tell us in the comments section as well.

As I said in my last post, two beers were remaining from my custom six pack. Tonight I had my friend Matt over for pizza and beer. He's a grad student in the DC area, and we've been friends since the age of seven. Basically, one night a week we have "date night" which is usually pizza and beer. I managed to find the one pizza place in Virginia that doesn't suck. We've ordered from there for a while and have yet to be disappointed. Matt enjoys beer quite a bit, and both of these beers were new for him as well:

Fuller's London Porter: Fuller's is a British brewer, and I think they make great beers. I enjoyed their London Pride a couple of years ago, and that beer went down smooth and was well balanced in hops, malts, and flavor. Their porter did not disappoint in the least. Before we tasted it, Matt asked what he should expect. I replied that most porters are known for a) a roasted after taste, which comes from the roasted malts, and b) a bit of a chocolate aftertaste, which comes from the chocolate malts. I thought this beer was rather complex, and I think I may need another one!

Starr Hill Dark Starr Stout: Starr Hill is a brewer from Charlottesville, VA and if it weren't for their great amber ale, I would seriously hold it against them. This beer was a stout, so there was also somewhat of a roasted after taste, but as a stout, there were a lot less hop, or bitter flavor. The aftertaste was described by Matt as almost chalky. I tended to agree. As far as stouts go, you can find much better than this.

As you can probably guess, the London Porter won beer of the night. It went down well with a pizza, which is also an indicator of a fine beer. And the atmosphere was made more enjoyable by a hockey game on TV, however it was not a Devils game. Oh well.

The scorecard:
Colleen: 192
Paul: 181

Cheers,
Paul

P.S. My awesome girlfriend, Laura, has promised that she will make me Guinness cupcakes. I am rather excited, and will give a full review when I have one.